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Stormtrooper armor
Stormtrooper armor was a distinctive white plastoid body armor over a sealed black body glove worn by Imperial stormtroopers, and in this respect appeared similar to their Clone Wars Phase II clone trooper armor predecessors, having acquired its color from the austere tastes of its Kaminoan creators. The complete set of eighteen pieces completely encased the body and typically had no individually distinguishing marking outside of rank. In fact, the casual first-time observer sometimes mistook the Stormtroopers as a form of battle droid. It also protected the troopers from very harsh environments as well as projectiles and kinetic energy weapons.1 The armor will significantly reduce damage to the wearer by a blaster bolt, but it could be completely penetrated by a more powerful cannon blast. The body glove allowed for operation in warm or cold climates, however it could protect the trooper from almost any environment -- from total vacuum conditions to the very extremes in cold and heat for a very limited period of time. Rank was indicated with colored pauldrons. In certain situations, Stormtroopers sometimes wore camouflage armor to help them blend in with different environments. The Stormtrooper corps instituted this reform after the embarrassing defeat at the Battle of Endor. Private ownership of stormtrooper armor was strictly forbidden by the Empire.2 The most obvious function of the armor was protection against weapons fire and battlefield hazards. The armor, and the body glove worn beneath, were designed to disperse the energy of a blaster bolt and insulate the wearer, lessening injury. Although standard armor lacked the durability to make the wearer immune to cannon fire, it could partially deflect or disperse energy from low, medium, and high-energy blaster bolts; though the wearer may be incapacitated, survival would allow the trooper to receive advanced medical treatment that may return him to service. It also deflected stun beams, and served as excellent protection against explosions and shrapnel, thereby drastically reducing the effective casualty radius of fragmentation weapons used against troops wearing such armor. It was almost impossible to kill a stormtrooper with a slugthrower unless the bullet was abnormally large, specifically armor piercing, or if it hit the body glove or visor lenses. Although this armor provided less protection from blaster weapons than wartime Phase I and Phase II armor, it offered superior protection from the elements.1 Stormtrooper armor was fitted with air filters and fully sealed against chemical and biological attack; the armor could even protect the wearer against vacuum for a limited time.1 A back-mounted tank contained 20 minutes of emergency oxygen. The aforementioned body glove also provided limited thermal protection. Most stormtrooper armor was integrated with standard personal ray-shield projectors (in direct contrast of clone troopers) in order to survive open blaster fire in case cover was nonexistent or limited or a certain exposed ground had to be taken and/or held for a certain lapse of time, it also improved hand-to-hand combat making standard troopers capable of surviving contact with light sabers (although did not provide any protection towards vibroblades), nevertheless, the power consumption of shield projectors was very high and they tended to overheat and fail under sustained blaster fire or under prolonged contact with a light saber and unless the trooper carried a power generator (which were very bulky) the shield projector could take several minutes until it could be reactivated once it failed, these factors made personal trooper shields very rarely seen on prolonged engagements and/or where terrain had a certain degree of immediate and surrounding cover. Also lack of experience from novice cadets towards blaster and lightsaber firepower made the shield projector an underestimated and underused piece of equipment. *The gloves were powered up during Hand-to-Hand combat (power gloves). *The stomach armor contained a Manual Suit Seal and environmental controls. *The thigh armor had a reinforced alloy plate ridge *The lower right side, near the knee contained the suits system power cells. *The left upper side of the shin armor had a knee protector plate for comfort from a kneeling firing position. *IFF circuitry was in the back of the suit for identification and command purposes for identifying each other. *A Proper Resonator to open secure doorsBy 130 ABY, stormtrooper armor had reportedly been further strengthened to absorb and diffuse direct blaster hits. However, during the Battle of Borosk between the 407th and 908th stormtrooper divisions, it was observed that direct blaster hits seemed to render troopers incapacitated, although it is possible that the effect of the blast was dissipated and the trooper survived. By this date, slight modifications had been made to stormtrooper armor in the breathing system and back plate. Also, in a return to the convention followed in the early years of the Clone Wars, the armor of NCOs were distinguished by different colors. For example, sergeants were identified by yellow-green stripes that ran the length of their arm, similar to the Katarn VI armor. In the early years of the Galactic Empire stormtroopers made use of Phase II clone trooper armor